Typical internal combustion engines require an inflow of ambient air for supporting one or more functional aspects of the engine assembly. The ambient air generally contains dust particles, grit and the like that may damage the engine assembly. Therefore, it is desirable to have an inflow of air that is substantially free of airborne particulates, such as fine dust, dirt, sand, crop material, etc. (debris).
Typically, air cleaners and/or filters are utilized to remove fine dust, dirt, sand, crop material, etc., from drawn in ambient air. An air cleaner performs the task of removing the airborne particulates from the ambient air entering the internal combustion engine such that the particulates do not travel into engine and cause significant wear and damage. Over a period of time, the air cleaner can become clogged with the entrapped dirt and grit particles. Therefore, air cleaners require periodic cleaning or replacement. Because air cleaners are expensive, however, frequent replacement is costly and undesirable. This is especially true when the machine is operated in a dirty or dusty environment, such as mining or other earth working environments.
To aid in removing accumulations of debris from the air cleaner, typically a scavenging conduit is provided. The scavenging conduit is connected to the air cleaner at a first end and is kept open to the environment at the other end. The accumulations in the air cleaner fall into the scavenging conduit and finally escape from the open/exhaust end under the force of gravity. To aid in removing accumulations of the debris from the air cleaner, generally a muffler is utilized. One such example is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,697,668 issued on Oct. 6, 1987 and assigned to Nelson Industries Inc., wherein a suction pressure is generated in the scavenging conduit, of the air cleaner, by a cavity provided in the scavenging conduit and connected to exhaust mufflers of the engine assembly. The arrangement disclosed is costly since the exhaust muffler has to be modified. Further, the cavity arrangement can be susceptible to being filled with the debris drawn from the air cleaner since the cavity has a narrow cross-section. Furthermore, the disclosed arrangement fails to provide effective suction pressure. In other disclosed examples, a suction fan is connected to the scavenging conduit to effectively remove the dirt particles accumulated in the air cleaner. However, such an arrangement adds to the cost and bulk of the engine envelope. Hence, there remains a need to provide a simple arrangement for effectively removing debris accumulated in the air cleaner.
The present disclosure is directed to mitigating or overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.